1)   Yard Watering Reflecting Bigger Trends
2)   Clean Camper, Discard Leftover Food
3)   Keep Trees Healthy to Prolong Their Lifespan
4)   Fruits and Vegetables: Best Just Picked

1)  Yard Watering Reflecting Bigger Trends

           
SALINA, Kan. – The Big E’s on Americans’ minds this year – the economy and the environment – have again made saving water in the home landscape an increasingly hot topic.

“More than half of all water used by the average U.S. household is used outdoors. Since we don’t haul out the hose much during winter, that means summer’s water bill increases can be significant,” said Chip Miller, Kansas State University Research and Extension horticulturist.

Two environmental factors also are supporting efforts to save water, Miller said.

First, underground aquifers are shrinking, and warming temperatures are evaporating more and more surface water. This is beginning to pit cities against industries against agriculture.

Pollution continues to reduce water availability, too, Miller added. One contributor is runoff from irrigated yards and gardens that have been treated with fertilizers, herbicides, and the like.

Miller said the following can be a good start toward coping with the Big E’s in the yard:

* Keep adding organic matter to soil. It makes moisture more readily available to plants, increases sandy soil’s water-holding capacity, and reduces clay soil’s tendency to promote runoff.

* Don’t garden where plants need extra water because they’re competing with tree roots.

* If practical, capture and use rain. Or, help it to stay clean and exit (e.g., dry streambed).

* Water early in the day, when cooler temperatures will limit evaporation.

* Avoid watering during windy weather, which also promotes evaporation.

* Water slowly, deeply and infrequently to encourage plants to develop deep roots.

* Keep the soil surface loosened and mulched.

* Operate/maintain irrigation systems properly, and ensure water gets to where it’s needed. Employ low water pressure with coarse sprinkler droplets or with systems that drip, trickle or ooze.

2) Clean Camper, Discard Leftover Food

           
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Canned or other non-perishable foods left over from last year and stored in a camper (or cabin) should be discarded, rather than included in this summer’s meals, said Karen Blakeslee, Kansas State University Research and Extension food scientist.

Such foods may be damaged from seasonal changes in temperature, moisture, insects or other animals searching for food, she said.

To be safe, start over, the food scientist said.

Blakeslee also recommends cleaning a camp or camper kitchen and appliances, such as the refrigerator or stove, and suggests using a homemade cleaning solution (one quart of warm water mixed with one teaspoon of regular, unscented household bleach) and allowing surfaces to air dry.

More information on food safety is available at county and district K-State Research and Extension offices and on Extension’s food safety Web site: www.oznet.ksu.edu/foodsafety.  

                                               

3) Keep Trees Healthy to Prolong Their Lifespan         

           
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Trees are amazingly resilient and can outlive humans. But, landscape trees tend to need help, said Jennifer Smith, Kansas State University Research and Extension horticulturist.

“In most cases, you’re too late once decline becomes evident in a mature tree,” Smith said.


Trees signal when they’re going downhill. They produce heavy seed crops and exhibit some branch dieback. Their leaves change color earlier in fall. With some trees, their leaves become smaller than average and may decline in number, too, making their canopy look sparse, the horticulturist said.

“These symptoms don’t appear in any particular order, and they usually develop over a period of years. They can be easy to overlook for quite a while if you’re taking your trees for granted,” she said.

Established trees almost always decline and die as a result of a combination of factors. All of the factors cause plant stress. Some, such as harsh weather, are not preventable. Yet, all are observable, Smith said, and the following can help trees avoid or survive stress better:

* Ensure your trees get enough moisture to make and store food, rather than draw on and perhaps deplete their food reserves. Irrigate slowly and deeply during extended dry weather – summer or winter.

* Mulch to reduce moisture fluctuations, but leave inches of mulch-free zone around the trunk.

* Do not pile additional soil over a tree’s root system – which can extend beyond its drip line.

* Avoid cutting into roots for any reason, and be careful with lawn equipment. String trimmer and lawn mower damage injures a tree’s vascular system. The wounds don’t heal completely and can kill.

* If you have a young tree that was planted too deeply, pull soil and mulch away from its base. A tree is at the proper depth if you can see the top of a horizontal root(s) emerging at the base of the trunk. Combined with any needed pruning, done correctly, these steps also will make trees less vulnerable to insects and diseases, Smith said, because “it’s always easier to keep a healthy tree healthy.”

4) Fruits and Vegetables: Best Just Picked

           
OLATHE, Kan. – With fresh fruits and vegetables, the general rule is: The closer it is to just-picked, the better its taste and nutrition content.

“Pumpkins last longer than peas do after harvest. Still, time’s the enemy of all produce. The best is what’s fresh,” said Chelsey Wasem, horticulturist, Kansas State University Research and Extension.

Logically, no fruit or vegetable can be fresh unless it’s also in season locally, Wasem said.

“We can get almost anything at any time of year now,” she added. “Unless it’s in season where you live, though, it will have been through days or even weeks in shipment from a warmer state or foreign country. The only exceptions would have to come from a nearby commercial-size greenhouse facility – which aren’t that common around here.”

In-season produce may not be fresh-picked, either, Wasem warned.

“Skip the Georgia peaches and California strawberries. Your best bests for finding just-picked are local farmers markets, roadside stands, and grocery store displays labeled as locally grown,” she said.

The fruits and vegetable in season through mid-July in Kansas and Missouri include: apples, apricots, beets, blackberries, blueberries, carrots, cauliflower, cherries, crabapples, cucumbers, dewberries, garlic, gooseberries, green beans, fresh herbs, honeydew melon, lima beans, mulberries, mushrooms, muskmelon (cantaloupe), nectarines, New Zealand spinach, onions, peaches, peppers, potatoes, raspberries, edible soybeans, sprouts, summer squash, sweet corn, Swiss chard and tomatoes.

Produce in season from mid to late July are: basil and other fresh herbs, blackberries, crabapples, cucumbers, currants, dewberries, eggplant, gooseberries, grapes, honeydew melon, mulberries, mushrooms, muskmelon (cantaloupe), nectarines, New Zealand spinach, okra, onions, peaches, peppers, plums, potatoes, sprouts, summer squash, sweet corn, Swiss chard, tomatoes and watermelon.

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